Quebec City, Canada, Nov 5, 2007 / 09:23 am
A massive Catholic event is scheduled to take place in Quebec City in June 2008. Canada's first Eucharistic Congress since 1910 is expected to draw over 100,000 people and their numbers could include Pope Benedict XVI, reports the CanWest News Service. Local Catholics hopes it will revivify Christian life in the area.
"This will certainly be the culmination of our efforts to re-evangelize Quebec," said Cardinal Marc Oullet, the archbishop of Quebec. "We have been preparing for this for years. There is a need in Quebec to reconnect with our Christian roots and to revive the Catholic identity," he continued.
The International Eucharistic Congress will include 15,000 delegates and 50 cardinals from 60 countries will meet to foster devotion to the Eucharist. Pope Benedict XVI might visit to preside over the congress' outdoor Mass on the historic Plains of Abraham, the site of a 1759 battle that led to the British takeover of French Canada.
The congress also coincides with Quebec City's 400th anniversary.